This was what I believe to be the final culmination of the class this semester, the work of me and my group mates to present the C.O.M.M.B., the Collective Organic Material Management Bot. I hope it is a fun read!
Introduction:
Landfills are a huge problem on earth that take up large amounts of space with tons of waste, part of it being biomass. By making a robot that can minimize waste we can not only help improve air and water quality but also turn waste back into fuel once more. Humans will no longer have to risk their health by having to stay long-term in a toxic landfill. A mobile robot will be constructed with a local memory to map out its designated route to pick up and deposit biomass. When deposited, a gasifier will be at the deposit location for the robot to let its collected waste be converted into energy. There is another benefit when it comes to using a mobile robot to convert biomass into fuel and that is the reduction of dependence on fossil fuels as an energy source. As such, this robot can redefine part of the waste management process to a cleaner and more energy-efficient method.
Previous Engineering Innovations:
When trying to see where to improve on harvesting biomass for energy, the collection aspect is where scientists have been debating on the most efficient process. The harvesting, as others call it, is also the most ethically important aspect, as disrupting the natural production/consumption cycle could be pretty detrimental to the Earth’s natural ecosystem. The current target for biofuel collection is “agricultural residues, fuel woods, and animal dung” considering their relative abundance and easy collection process. (Kurian et al 206) When scientists were first trying to figure out sources, choosing feedstocks like rice and wheat straw were the next choices, known as first-generation biofuels. Although, choosing feedstocks for fuel production, like rice and wheat fields can be harmful, as many communities rely on the arable land for their own food. Shifting from direct food sources would be second-generation biofuels the usage of agricultural residues, which are “byproducts of agricultural production and processes,” as there is no extra energy used to produce them. (207) Considering that these residues have already been used for fuel to run boilers and to co-generate electricity, it would be easy to alternate another purpose into it while not disrupting already present uses for the materials. (207)
For third-generation biofuels, algae are seen to be a great source, and we would like to focus on Municipal Solid Wastes. It is already being used for food production, and considering the source only grows every year it would not disrupt the already present consumption too much like the first and second generation of biofuels. If the question of how much is available, in 2011 the estimated annual production was 80 million tons with an estimated increase of about 1.33% per year. China produced 2.48 billion tons of animal manure and 152 million tons of MSW, something we can assume will also be present in the United States. (207) In addition to municipal solid waste, there are things like industrial wastewater, industrial solid waste, and municipal wastewater that could also be capitalized on.
Shifting from innovations in the biofuel sources, through our research we argue that there must be innovation in the collection of biofuels as well. Research on the harvesting of biofuels from China illustrated that “33.5”% had been wasted, and after considering factors like the weather conditions to prevent evaporation, other uses of residues, and the available technology, the actual yield is more around “15-40%.” (207) Both the collection methods in the path and importantly the fuel sources themselves have been found to be lacking. While searching for previous garbage collection robots, most uses have been in collecting garbage off of the streets or in the plants themselves for sorting, not mainly collecting useful garbage in landfills. Funnily enough, the closest descendant may be a Roomba.
Technical Description/IV Description of Materials:
Our innovation is that of a robot that is made up of steel, since it is the most durable building material in today’s society it will be able to withstand corrosion, strong chemical makeup, and harsh conditions (weather conditions). Since the innovation will be in a landfill a steel body is needed to handle these conditions listed above. The innovation will be 11 feet wide, 5 feet in width, and 5 feet in length, the size is similar to the Fiat automobile. It will have a head with eyes that have laser scanning technology to distinguish between different types of trash, while scanning it will know what can and can’t be collected to hold on to and then deposit to the gasifier that’ll turn the organic trash into biofuel. As for mobility, it will have a sprocket with a caterpillar track, this is mostly used on tanks. With this, it’ll be easy for the robot to traverse the landfills which are just mounds of trash.
The robot will have solar panels on its body to take in sunlight and hold onto power in its battery, that way it’ll be self-sufficient and won’t need another source of power. Within this, the robot will have a sensor that helps it go back to the base to charge in case there isn’t enough solar energy converted to power. This robot will have an IAD (Intelligent Assisted Device) that can be programmed to scan for trash, collect and deposit organic waste, and move to a new area to start a new search. This robot will not just be one, but multiple as there are different types of organic waste, these robots will either collect solid organic waste or liquid waste. The robot will have arms that collect the trash and hold onto the inside of its body until the robot can’t hold more and will then have to move to deposit the trash. Within the robot, there will be 3 different sensors, those being an infrared sensor, a wall sensor, and a dirt sensor. Each has a different role to play. The infrared sensors will scan and detect infrared radiation in the environment which will help the robot understand its surrounding environment in the landfill. The wall sensor will help detect any walls that can’t be passed, setting a boundary for the dirt sensor to scan and collect organic material that can be used to make biofuel.
Process of the Innovation:
I Materials:
- Steel (11 feet by 5 feet by 5 feet) $40
- Robotic Claw $160
- 2 Infrared sensors $10 each
- 1 Contact sensor $10
- 1 Non-contact sensor $14
- At least 3 Solar Panels per Robot $150
- 2 Sprocket/ Caterpillar Track $1140
- Battery [need a sensor for the device to automatically go to charger] $150
- Circuit Board/ IAD (Intelligent Assisted Device)
- Dirt sensor $800
II Cost:
We expect the cost of this device to range from around $2000 – $4000 (the overall cost may vary due to the quality of the materials). The steel used throughout the device should cost about $40 not including the price of the robotic claw which comes down to an additional $160. C.O.M.M.B.S also includes 4 sensors, 2 to detect organic waste, the other to detect which waste it should come into contact with, one to learn what not to bump into (this sensor allows the robot to see and navigate through the changes in the environment), as well as a sensor to determine inorganic waste. In total, the sensors should come up to no more than $350. The sensors get their information from a $900 circuit board within the device, giving it the information it needs to succeed. The most expensive thing would have to be the heavy-duty caterpillar tracks ranging from $1000 and up. There need to be at least 3 solar panels per robot costing $150 connecting to the $100 charging ports.
III Time:
We propose the time to build and source the materials will take about 6 weeks. For actually coding the IAD initially we believe it will take about 8 weeks to program the specific parameters of what to search for.
Other Necessary and Important Factors:
The main issue would be that MSW would contain inorganic materials, presenting an issue to be used in refineries as many require pre-processing to be used. However, certain gasifiers would already account for these as they are made of other inorganic materials like nuclear waste. (Stauffer 2009) By using a conventional gasifier with enhanced furnaces, all aspects of the material can be taken care of. Even if these specific types of gasifiers cannot be implemented cost-effectively, organizations like the United States Department of Energy are pushing for alternative methods for MSW to be an effective biofuel. One of the R&D opportunities that the DOE listed for making it a more viable option includes developing “waste preprocessing and handling strategies to reduce feedstock variability of MSW streams.” (US Department of Energy 2019)
Along with our robot targeting landfills for biofuels, with its enhanced collection properties in an area where humans are less likely to go collect, it would be greatly beneficial to have a way to capitalize on a prime fuel source. Thus, there would be a prime market for the robot as it can fulfill its function the best out of any choices, and is tapped into a future market projected to be very important.
How It Functions:
Through the bio-refining process, we will allocate the robots to the collection process. It will be dispersed throughout landfills, using scanning technology in order to search for the desired type of waste. The additional treads will allow it to traverse the otherwise troublesome landscape. After scanning for the desired waste, it shall collect in the opening at the front of the machine through its arms. After filling the programming capacity, it will then return to the docks in which they are stationed. These will strategically be placed in areas close to the transportation to the bio-refineries, making the addition of the robot more efficient in its incorporation into the overall process.
Works Cited:
CAT 305.5E2CR 400mm Wide Rubber Track 400×72.5×76. (n.d.). Prowler Rubber Tracks. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from
IRobot Unveils Aware 2.0 Software for Developers. iRobot Corporation. (2006). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from
Kudakasseril Kurian, J., Raveendran Nair, G., Hussain, A., & Vijaya Raghavan, G. S. (2013). Feedstocks, logistics and pre-treatment processes for sustainable lignocellulosic biorefineries: A comprehensive review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 25, 205–219. Accessed November 14th, 2022 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.04.019
Office of Energy, Efficiency, & Renewable Energy. (2019) Waste-to-Energy From Municipal Solid Wastes. U.S. Department of Energy, 1-15. Accessed November 18th, 2022 from
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2019/08/f66/BETO–Waste-to-Energy-Report-August–2019.pdf
Perangin Angin, D., Siagian, H., Suryanto, E. D., Sashanti, R., & Marcopolo. (2018). Design and Development of the Trash Splitter with Three Different Sensors. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1007, 012057. Accessed November 20th, 2022 from
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1007/1/012057
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